Cerastium arvense

Cerastium arvense L.

Field chickweed

Synonym(s):

A plant with several stems leaning on the ground, and a white flower blooming at the end of each of the few branches of the nearly leafless flower cluster. Below the point where leaves attach the stem are downward-pointing hairs, those in flower cluster tipped with glands.

Cerastium, from the Greek keras (horn), refers to the capsule, which is tapered and, in some species, bent slightly like a cows horn. The very similar Mountain Chickweed (C. beeringianum), which grows at high elevations in Americas western mountains, has green-edged bracts in the flower cluster.